musAIc
An Interdisciplinary Analysis of GenAI’s Systemic Risk to Cultural Pluralism in the Music Sector
Project
The musAIc project aims to explore whether the legal category of systemic risk, recently introduced by the EU AI Act, can encompass the systematic impacts that certain generative AI (genAI) may have on the fundamental rights of cultural pluralism and freedom of expression.
The use of genAI is growing rapidly, particularly in the music domain, which accounts for 8% of its global market. While their indisputable economic and societal benefits are well recognized in existing literature, concerns about their potential negative impacts on cultural pluralism and freedom of expression are growing. However, scholars have not yet recognized these impacts as systemic risks under EU digital law (including the AI Act and the Digital Services Act) or as potential drivers of cultural impoverishment.
Focusing on the music sector as a paradigmatic case, musAIc aims to bridge this gap by developing a novel framework to support the design of the methodologies and criteria required under Article 51 et seq. of the AI Act for risk assessment and the implementation of appropriate counterbalances, as well as for the drafting of codes of practice pursuant to Article 56.
To achieve this, the project will conduct empirical analysis and testing of creative processes in algorithm-dominated environments, with a focus on “cultural impoverishment” as a possible outcome of both these models’ architecture and usage context.
This will ultimately lead to the development of guidelines to help stakeholders assess these risks and assist EU policymakers in addressing them.
Outcomes
The project adopts a strong interdisciplinary approach, integrating law, sociology, and computer science while considering the needs of the general public, as well as professional and amateur musicians.
To ensure the successful completion of the project, the research will be conducted at both EU (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy) and non-EU institutions (University of Zurich, Switzerland; Columbia Law School, USA), which is essential given the global nature of the issues addressed and the project’s ultimate policy objectives.
At Columbia Law School (January 2026-July 2026)
Specifically, at Columbia Law School (January 2026-July 2026), the research will involve the launch of experiments and interviews and surveys with industry experts, musicians, and computer scientists, as well as an in-depth examination of well-known U.S. case law, which has become central to current debates and scholarship in this field.
The desk analysis will explore the meaning of “cultural diversity” in the contemporary regulatory and technological context and assess whether the use of generative AI in the music sector is contributing to increasing standardisation in music production, potentially leading to what could be referred to as cultural impoverishment.
At the University of Zurich (August 2026-October 2027)
At the University of Zurich (August 2026-October 2027), the results of the experiments will be analysed, and field research will continue through interviews and surveys. The expected outcomes of the analysis are to assess — consistently with the definition provided in Article 3(65) of the AI Act — :
- how and to what extent the standardisation of music production may significantly affect the EU market;
- the effects of such standardisation on freedom of (artistic) expression and cultural pluralism;
- its broader societal implications;
- the actuality or reasonable foreseeability of such negative effects;
- their potential for large-scale propagation.
Further legal desk research will also be conducted during this phase, focusing on:
- cultural pluralism and cultural dominance within the human rights framework;
- the socio-economic context characterised by the privatisation of knowledge and the concentration of economic power;
- selected intellectual property (IP) and EU digital law principles as possible counterbalances to the risk of cultural impoverishment.
During this phase, the drafting of policy guidelines will begin.
At Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (November 2027-October 2028)
These guidelines will subsequently be finalised and tested at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (November 2027-October 2028), including:
- a methodology for assessing the systemic risk of cultural impoverishment in line with Articles 51 and 56 of the AI Act;
- policy principles for managing this risk, which may contribute to the development of a Code of Practice pursuant to Article 56 of the AI Act.
The project also includes dissemination and communication activities, including the production of a short podcast presenting the results of the research.
PI
Principal Investigator
Francesca Rotolo is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie (MSCA) Researcher at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, specializing in digital law, copyright law, and data protection law. She successfully earned her PhD in “Law, Market, and Person” in 2024 at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Prof. C. Irti). In 2022, as part of her doctoral studies, she was a Visiting PhD Student at DReDIS (Laboratoire du Droit de l’Immatériel de la Sorbonne) of IRJS, University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Her research adopts an Italian and EU law perspective on copyright and digital law, focusing on the repercussions of digital technologies – including generative AI – on contemporary social, economic, and legal frameworks. Her MSCA project “musAIc”, carried out at Columbia Law School (New York), the University of Zurich, and Ca' Foscari University of Venice, aims to explore the impacts of generative AI on the music industry as “systemic risk” under the EU Artificial Intelligence Act. Her book “Generative AI’s ‘Creative’ Process in the Era of Privatisation of Knowledge” is forthcoming with BRILL.
